


Flare

by mea_culpa



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Challenge fic, Christmas, Dystopia, Fluff, M/M, Size Difference, So I know I shouldn't ask, a little angst i suppose, but if anyone wanted to do some artwork for this I would definitely not complain :), harry/louis holidays, i've never written anything like this, it may be considered rude, so bare with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 02:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1101184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mea_culpa/pseuds/mea_culpa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A solar flare ruined everything... almost</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bravepress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bravepress/gifts).



> I'll hold my hands up now and say that I've never written anything like this before, and it maybe doesn't totally match the assignment, but I hope it's ok.  
> I kind of like them like this and if I'd had infinite time I would have maybe written more.  
> I hope it's ok..  
> xx

Harry walked down the dark, narrow hallway, mindful of the sheets partitioning the different living spaces. In all there were eight other groups sharing the house and he was eternally thankful that he had managed to secure the top floor space. He took the stairs two at a time, excitement thrumming through his veins. He had just under two hours before he had to be ready and he still had so much to do.

As he reached the top floor, strips of burgundy and emerald were the only thing separating the stairs from his space. Or at least that was how it appeared. In truth just before the sheets, to the right, was a loose panel where he kept everything of importance. Things he could barter with, things people would covet for themselves, things he just couldn't bare to be parted from and this time, things he didn't want Louis to find.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Louis. The opposite actually. Harry would trust Louis with his life, with his very last breath. They had been together for so long that at this point Louis was just an extension of himself. He lived for Louis and Louis lived for him and that was the best that they could hope for in the current state of the world.

Pushing any gloomy thoughts threatening to invade aside, Harry checked over his shoulder until he was satisfied that no-one was watching, and recalled his secreted stash of goods. Truth be told he was quite pleased with himself. He had been planning all year and it was finally about to reach fruition. He had managed to collect a vast assortment of items to meet his purpose and he had done so without giving himself away.

Harry pushed the sheets aside and dragged the dark cloth bag behind him until he reached the old mattress Louis had recommissioned from a dying friend. It wasn't much and the memory attached was even more uncomfortable than the springs pushing through the top, but it was theirs and it was more than most had.

He surveyed the room, hands on his cocked hips and teeth biting at his bottom lip. He had thought of everything except where to start.

***

"Hey Love," Two hours had passed quicker than he would have liked. He had only just finished lighting the candle and he was not ready for Louis's return. At all.

"Hi Lou," Harry stood with bated breath as small, slim fingers pulled at the sheets. The only thing separating him and the reality of the moment. He had done all of this for Louis but here was the moment of truth. Would he even like it? Was it what he wanted? Did Harry do it justice at all?

"Harry..." His name was forced, strained through Louis's open lips as if pushed involuntarily out. If it wasn't for the look in Louis's eyes Harry would have been worried. His heart would have burst from his chest and shriveled on the floor in a final beat of despair. Only, luckily, Louis's eyes negated anything the word could suggest. His eyes shone with love and life and wonder.

Harry laughed. He was so relived he couldn't not and only a second later Louis's tinkling chuckle met his own before he was staggering with the weight of a much smaller man wrapped around his thighs.

"How... I... what? Harry?!" Louis laughed like the child he wasn't anymore, open and free and full of joy and Harry's heart was about to burst out of his chest for an entirely different reason.

Three years ago, when the world had turned to shit, Harry had never thought that he could have this again. A single, unexpected solar flare had ruined life as he had known it. It had taken everything and ironically electricity was the least of all. They had lost so much but Harry had lost this. This Louis who was young and carefree and worried for nothing. A Louis not laden with the troubles and loss of the new world. And even if it lasted a day, hours, minutes, a second, the fact that he had it, that he had made it happen filled him with something he couldn't identify and had no intention of trying to understand.

Louis untangled his limbs from Harry's and spun in his place, arms outstretched and grinning. Harry watched, a lump forming in his throat.

"How did you do all this?"

Harry shrugged. He _could_ explain every detail. He could recount how he had swapped the small loaf of fresh bread with Mrs Jefferson downstairs for an out of date tin of tropical fruit he had stashed away. He could tell of how he had stolen the small spatchcock chicken from Mr Peters in the middle of the night and how he hadn't felt bad about it at all because the man had plenty and he was trying to sell them at an extortionate price. He could explain how he had swapped the jumper his mother had given him for two candles and a single match or that he had found a small hidden patch of ground, nearly a mile from where they lived and managed to grow just a handful of small potatoes, he could say he tried four times to get it right.  But it didn't matter.

Louis didn't need to know the details. Harry wasn't about to brag about his efforts. Louis's face when he saw the small spread, when he studied the large branch decorated in old collected bottle tops, that was enough and to Harry that was the greatest gift he could receive on a day nobody celebrated any longer.

"There's one more thing.." Louis paused his perusal of the room and turned to Harry expectantly, a look on his face that spoke volumes. A look that said Harry had already done enough, that there didn't need to be more. Harry stepped to the side and reached under the mattress. He hadn't kept this one in his hidey hole, he couldn't take even the smallest risk of it being lost or taken.

This had been the hardest to acquire, the most expensive in terms of sacrifice and current trading. But it was worth it, what was a little semen in exchange for the light radiating from Louis's eyes. As long as he didn't think about the repercussions, the idea that somewhere out there there could be someone made from a part of him. As long as he didn't think about it, it was ok. it was worth it, more than even.

He sat on the edge of the mattress then and pulled Louis beside him, their knees and shoulders touching softly. He took Louis's smaller hand in his own and hovered his own over the top before pressing down, leaving behind his gift.

"Harry!" This time his name was said with awe as Louis looked down at the item in his hand. The star swamped Louis's hand in a way it hadn't with his own. The corners touching the extension of his fingers.

"It's beautiful," and it was. The high price was worth the quality. The metal was smooth, unblemished in a way that was hard to come by since the flare, since everyone had panicked. And carved intricately into the middle were their initials, the S of his surname entangled with the L of Louis's first. They were an extension of each other, just like Harry and Louis themselves.

"It's for the tree..." Harry pointed to the mottled branch with his head and grinned in response to the wide smile currently encroaching Louis's face.

He turned it over to reveal a small loop of metal melded into the back, just big enough to cling to a protruding twig at the top, not as smooth as the rest but it didn't matter, this bit was all about purpose, it had a task to fulfill. This year Louis would be able to put the star atop the tree just as he had always done. This year they would celebrate, they would forget their losses and just enjoy the day as they used to. Together. Happy. Carefree.

Strong, calloused hands gripped at his face, the star pushing into the soft flesh of his cheek, as his lips were brushed softy with Louis's. No matter how many kisses they shared, they continued to take his breath away.

"Thank you," Louis whispered the words on a breathless sigh and buried his head in Harry's neck as Harry cradledhim, stroked soothing patterns in his hair. Emotion was thick in the room and Louis's shallow breaths gave away just how affected he was.

"Merry Christmas Lou."

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas!!  
> x


End file.
